12/28/2007

New York, USAWeather patterns took twists and turns in 2007, beginning with flowers blooming in January and including a freak June storm that killed four people in Colchester. Golfers were hitting area courses in January's 60-degree weather. A high of 64.4 degrees was recorded Jan. 2, which broke the 1890 mark of 58 degrees for the date. January averaged 4.8 degrees above normal. The normal mean temperature for January is 21.3 degrees. But by the end of January, temperatures plunged. A record-setting blizzard pushed through the area Feb. 14. More than 25 inches of snow fell in Emmons. That broke the Oneonta-area record for Valentine's Day of 20 inches, set in 1914. The average Binghamton snowfall in February is 15.9 inches, but the 2007 February total was 29.1 inches. Temperatures varied in the area but remained below average in February. The cold weather continued into March. Oneonta set a record for the lowest high temperature for the March 6, with the thermometer only reaching 5.1 degrees. The previous record was 8 degrees. Summer began tragically in the town of Colchester where four people died June 19 after an 8-foot-high wall of water rushed through two valleys. The storm that stalled along a ridge between Holiday Brook and Cat Hollow roads in the Delaware County town washed away four homes and destroyed roads and bridges. Up to 8 inches of rain fell in two hours, washing out roads and homes and slamming trees into bridges. The month of July turned out to be cooler and wetter than normal, continuing a trend that stretched through the first seven months of the year. The area's weather during September ranged from wet and warm to near normal. From June through September, the weather was fairly stable. One of the most remarkable things about September was the lack of a frost. As the year drew to an end, back-to-back snowstorms turned the area into a winter wonderland, but rain on Dec. 23 washed snow away, making for a mostly green Christmas.